Developing+Curriculum

There are many online lesson planning programs that you can use to help develop your curriculum as you go. One program is called **planbookedu.com**. You can pay a small fee and have a premium membership, or use it free. You can attach documents and share your plans with other educators. This is a great tool, because you can work collaboratively as long as you have a computer, without having a ton of papers and books lying around.
 * Developing Curriculum **
 * Tools **-

Creating consensus maps can be a challenge, so one helpful tool can be the **Odyssey Curriculum Mapping Tool**. This tool uses individual teacher's curriculum maps then helps the leaders and group align them with consesus maps. It's helpful that there are also online piblished maps. Once a curriculum map has been created, the administration can approve it for publication.
 * The Curriculum Mapper** is another tool that can prove to be helpful. This is a website that started as a search engine, but has now spawned into a database of analysis tools, integration of standards and public accessiblity. Curriculum maps from professionals across the nation can be accessed to further collaboration.

Strategies/ Ideas  One helpful source for strategies and ideas of curriculum development is the website Imaginative Minds Group Teaching Times (www.teachingtimes.com). On this website,   you will find educational articles and resources covering a wide-range of themes and the changing priorities within schools and helping teachers with information and learning.
 * Information/ Resources- **One very helpful resource when creating curriculum is the use of activities and worksheets that are already created for you. One great teacher website that we have used when designing curriculum and activities is **abcteach.com**. You can pay a small membership free, or use some of the many free items they have. They have many documents, worksheets, and activities on many subjects that are already created for you, you just have to print them out. Another resource that can be helpful in developing curriculum is STARTALK. The online curriculum development guides provide enhanced explanations for each section of the student and teacher curriculum templates. These guides may be useful to program directors and instructors as they develop their standards-based, thematically designed curriculum. Those involved with teacher programs may find elements of the student guide useful as they work with teacher trainees on elements of effective teaching. (www.startalk.umd.edu) In addition to the aforementioned websites, Enchanted Learning is also a helpful tool in curriculum development. Enchanted Learning, LLC produces K-12 educational material that is published online. Ease of use is a hallmark of their material. Children need the clearest, simplest computer interface, and their material is created so that the navigation and controls are intuitive and simple. For example, even the earliest readers can navigate a subset of the web usings "Little Explorers", one of the picture dictionaries, and can easily find information on topics that interest them. Some of the material is available for free online, and for a small yearly subscription, users have access to all of the material. (enchantedlearning.com)